Coronavirus: Hong Kong's edge over Singapore shows early social distancing works

HONG KONG/SINGAPORE - In the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, Singapore and Hong Kong saw similar success with dramatically different approaches.While Hong Kong has recently seen its case tally slow to a couple dozen a day, Singapore's has surged 180 per cent in the past two weeks with infections popping up in places from pre-schools to migrant worker dormitories.

Weakened by months of protests and a recession, Hong Kong's government initially came under fire for inconsistent messaging in tackling the virus challenge. "The second wave of resurgent cases in Singapore has highlighted the differences between the two in terms of their approaches to the outbreak - and even the slightest difference in approach could matter in explaining the different outcomes," he said.

In Europe and the United States, politicians are now mulling lifting lockdowns to revive their economies, even as health experts caution against relaxing too soon. The early panic that enveloped the city's population, already on edge from months of pro-democracy protests, went viral in pictures of empty supermarket shelves and supply-hoarding, most notably of toilet paper.Singapore took a different approach, leaving schools and government offices open.

The Government closed schools - the education minister said Singapore was"correct" not to shut them earlier - and planned to give every household reusable masks.

Quite a few points in this article are questionable. There’s no outbreak in our schools & government offices when they remained open. Also no mention about severe shortage of hospital beds in HK...

Not all believes! How can gov make it better. U go to the small HDB areas, elderly can stil be seen loitering & eating at the void deck. Reports on home gathering....sign...

Sg didn’t close their borders or quarantine returning foreigners we enough. yikes.

Different experience. Hongkongers are probably more careful and responsible because of SARS and H1N1. Our approach has been based on needs/situation. Our problem is not the measures. It’s people.

74Barbara Hong Kong certainly done it better despite under riot and protest for a year. Singapore is going under and losing control.

With due respect to the Professor, I feel the approach by the Singapore Government is still the more balanced approach in terms of control, business and freedom.

Hindsight is 20/20. But I believe that how we handled the situation is still up there. We had an incremental approach based on when certain thresholds are triggered. This leads to certainty for businesses and investors.

Failed state Singapore needs to learn from Hong Kong?

How much does Carrie earns

Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

What happens if Hong Kong court upholds mask ban amid coronavirus pandemic?Hong Kong’s embattled government will know on Thursday the outcome of its appeal to uphold a controversial ban on masks, which was introduced at the height of the civil unrest last year but later ruled unconstitutional by the court.Legal experts, however, have called for a full withdrawal of the law, That true, Most of HKers know HK Government just working with CCP to bully HKers when we opposite thenselves. Banning the masks isn't helping in controlling the crowd or to minimize the protest. HongKongers have voiced clearly to having universalsuffrage. They will continuously fight for it. Five demands, not one less. Hong Kong Government doesn't care about the lives of Hongkongers 😒 They might uphold the ban on masks if they could😒😒 They even allowed police to hurt, insult, murder Hongkongers since June 2019... so, why not?
Source: YahooSG - 🏆 3. / 71 Read more »

Coronavirus woes force famous Hong Kong snake restaurant to shutA famous Hong Kong snake meat restaurant, She Wong Yee, will shut its doors this month after more than three decades in business, as the coronavirus keeps customers away. Restaurant manager Lo Cheong Hei says business started to drop after the Lunar New Year holidays in late January, as the number of
Source: YahooSG - 🏆 3. / 71 Read more »

Hong Kong: Stocks finish with rally[HONG KONG] Stocks in Hong Kong ended with a healthy rally Thursday, in line with an advance across Asia, with investors cheered by signs that the rate of new coronavirus infections was slowing. Read more at The Business Times.
Source: BusinessTimes - 🏆 15. / 51 Read more »

Hong Kong court rules that blanket ban on masks is unconstitutionalHONG KONG (REUTERS) - Hong Kong's Court of Appeal on Thursday (April 9) ruled that a blanket government ban on face masks was unconstitutional, at a time when most Hong Kong people are wearing them in the hope of warding off the new coronavirus.. Read more at straitstimes.com. Now the Hog Kong Gov don't want us to go without a mask now. What an irony. This adjudgment grants the Chief Executive of Hong Kong unlimited power to establish every kind of law without the needs of consulting the legislative council. This is totally unacceptable. Mask ban on “legal protests” is unconstitutional....but Hong Kong Police can cancel a “pre-approved” protests in just 8 seconds.👇
Source: The Straits Times - 🏆 8. / 63 Read more »

Hong Kong tourism chief pins hopes on recovery starting by JulyThe impact of the novel coronavirus on Hong Kong's tourism sector is unprecedented and the city can hope to start seeing things returning to normal by July, in part by trying to develop new markets, the head of the tourism board told Reuters. The coronavirus crisis has paralysed the global financial
Source: YahooSG - 🏆 3. / 71 Read more »

Hong Kong: Stocks close lower[HONG KONG] Hong Kong shares finished more than one per cent lower Wednesday, hit by profit-taking after a two-day rally and as investors keep tabs on the spread of the coronavirus. Read more at The Business Times.
Source: BusinessTimes - 🏆 15. / 51 Read more »